Pride and Prejudice was Austen's second published novel and included her notable portrayal of the main character Elizabeth Bennett.

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...lets started chapter 1...

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Everyone knows that a single man with a large fortune needs a wife. As soon as such a man enters a neighbourhood, therefore, he is at once considered as the future husband of one of his neighbours' daughters.

'My dear Mr Bennet, said his wife to him one day, 'have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?'

Mr Bennet replied that he had not.

'But it is,' she said, 'Mrs Long has just told me all about it!

Mr Bennet made no answer. 'Do you not want to know who is going to live there?' asked his wife impatiently. 'You want to tell me. I have no objection to hearing it. 'Well, my dear, Mrs Long says that Netherfield has been let to a young

man with a large fortune from the north of England. He came down

on Monday in a carriage with four horses to see the place, and he was

so delighted with it that he agreed immediately. He is to come here

himself in September and some of his servants will move in next week.

"What is his name?'

'Bingley'

'Is he married or single?"

'Oh, single, my dear, of course! A single man, with a large fortune- four or five thousand pounds a year. What a good thing for our girls!" 'Why? How can it affect them?'

'My dear Mr Bennet, replied his wife, 'how can you be so tiresome? You know that I am thinking that he will marry one of them. 'Is that his intention in coming here?'

'Nonsense! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them

And therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes?

I see no reason for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves. Perhaps that will be better, because you are as pretty as any of them and Mr Bingley might like you best! "My dear, you flatter me! I certainly have had a share of beauty, but I do

not pretend to be extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown- up daughters she ought to give up thinking of her own beauty Anyway, I do not promise to go and see Mr Bingley 'But think of your daughters! Think what an excellent marriage it would be for one of them! Sir William and Lady Lucas are going for that reason, although they do not usually visit newcomers.

Of course you must go. It will be impossible for me to take the girls

unless you do

I am sure Mr Bingley will be very glad to see you; and I will send

a letter with you, promising consent to his marriage with any of the girls whom he likes. I must add a special word of praise for my little Elizabeth, however. "What nonsense! Lizzy is not a bit better than the others, she is not half as pretty as Jane, nor as good tempered as Lydia. But you always

prefer her

"They are all silly and ignorant, like other girls,' said he, 'But Elizabeth

is more intelligent than her sisters.'

Mr Bennet, why do you speak of your own children like that? You enjoy worrying me. You have no pity on my poor nerves!" You are wrong, my dear. I have great respect for your nerves. They are

my old friends. I have heard about them for at least twenty years. But 1

hope that, in spite of them, you will live to see many young men with

four thousand pounds a year come to this neighbourhood.

'It will be no use to us if twenty of them come, since you will not visit them. "When there are twenty, my dear, I promise to visit them all.

Mr Bennet was a strange mixture of intelligence, sarcasm, humour and unsociable reserve. After twenty-three years, his wife still did not understand his character. Her own mind was less difficult to understand. She was a woman of little intelligence and less knowledge. she had a bad temper and, when she was discontented, she blamed her nerves. Her business in life was to get her daughters married. Her pleasure was visiting and gossiping with her friends.

Mr Bennet was one of the first to visit Mr Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though he told his wife every day that he would not go. On the evening after the visit she still did not know that he had gone. Then, watching his second daughter who was busy trimming a hat, Mr Bennet suddenly said:

Thope Mr Bingley will like it, Elizabeth." 'We shall never know what Mr Bingley likes, her mother said angrily.

"We are not going to visit him. 'But you forget, Mamma, said Elizabeth, 'that we shall meet him at the assembly balls. Mrs Long has promised to introduce him.'

"When is your next ball at Meryton, Lizzy?' asked Kitty.

In a fortnight."

"That's right!' cried her mother. And Mrs Long will be away until the day before the ball. So she will not know Mr Bingley herself by then, and she will not be able to introduce him.

"Then, my dear, you may be able to introduce Mr Bingley to her

Impossible, Mr Bennet, impossible! I shall not know him myself. Why do

you tease so? I am tired of Mr Bingley!

'I am sorry to hear that. Why didn't you tell me before? If I had known that

this morning I certainly would not have visited him. It is very unlucky.

But as I have actually been to his house we shall have to know him now!

The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wanted. Mrs Bennet was probably more surprised than any of them, though she soon began to say that she had expected this all the time.

'How good it was of you, my dear Mr Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you to do it. I was sure you loved the girls too much to miss such a chance. Well, how pleased I am! What an excellent father you have, girls. I don't know how you will ever repay him for his kindness; or me, either. At our age it is not very pleasant making new friends every day, but we would do anything to help you. Lydia, my love, I am sure Mr Bingley will dance with you at the next ball, although you are the youngest

I am sure of it said Lydia boldly, 'because I am the tallest, although I am the youngest

All the questions of Mrs Bennet and her five daughters could not persuade Mr Bennet to describe Mr Bingley to them. He refused to give any information at all. At last they had to ask their neighbour, Lady Lucas. Her news was excellent. Sir William had been delighted with Mr Bingley. He was quite young, very handsome, extremely pleasant and, best of all, he intended to come to the next ball with a large party of friends. Nothing could be more delightful. Enjoyment of dancing was a step towards falling in love. There were high hopes of winning Mr Bingley's heart.

'If I can see one of my daughters living at Netherfield, and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing more to wish for," said Mrs Bennet to her husband.

In a few days Mr Bingley came to visit Mr Bennet and sat in the library with him for about ten minutes. He had hoped to see the young ladies, about whose beauty he had heard a great deal; but he only saw their father. The ladies were luckier. They saw from an upstairs window that he wore a blue coat and rode a black horse.

Soon afterwards an invitation to dinner was sent to Mr Bingley. But a disappointing answer came back. Mr Bingley had to go to London the next day and was therefore unable to accept their invitation. He had only gone to London, however, to get a party of friends together for the ball. Soon they heard that he was bringing twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the ball. The girls were sorry about such a large number of ladies; but on the day before the ball they were glad to hear that he had brought only six ladies, instead of twelve. And when he entered the ballroom his whole party included only five persons; Mr Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the elder sister and another young man.

Mr Bingley was handsome and well-mannered. He had an agreeable expression and easy, natural friendliness. His sisters were handsome women, with a fashionable appearance. His brother-in-law, Mr Hirst, looked like any other gentleman. But his friend, Mr Darcy, soon attracted everyone's attention. He was a tall, handsome man with a noble appearance and (it was soon reported) an income of ten thousand pounds a year. The gentlemen at the ball said he was a fine looking man; the ladies said he was much more handsome than Mr Bingley. He was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, until his manners disgusted everyone. It was discovered that he was too proud to enjoy the company. Nothing pleased him. Despite his large estate in Derbyshire, everyone declared that he had a disagreeable face and was not nearly as attractive as his friend, Mr Bingley.

Mr Bingley soon made friends with almost everyone in the room. He was lively and friendly, danced all night and talked about giving a ball himself at Netherfield. Such agreeable manners made him popular everywhere. What a difference between himself and his friend! Mr Darcy danced once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley. He refused to be introduced to any other lady, and he spent the rest of the evening walking silently about the room. Everyone agreed that he was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world. Everyone hoped that he would never come back again. His strongest critic was Mrs Bennet, who was particularly angry because he had been rude to one of her daughters.

There were so few gentlemen in the room that Elizabeth Bennet sat without a partner during two dances. Mr Darcy was standing near and she overheard a conversation between himself and Mr Bingley.

Mr Bingley had left the dance for a moment in order to ask his friend to join it. Come on, Darcy, he said. 'You must dance. I hate to see you standing by yourself in this stupid way. You ought to dance!

I certainly shall not. You know how I hate it, unless I know my partner well. Your sisters are dancing. There is not another woman in the room with whom I wish to dance.'

I never met so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening. cried Bingley. "There are several who are very pretty!

"You are dancing with the only pretty girl in the room,' said Mr Darcy. looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.

Oh, she is the most beautiful girl I ever saw! But there is one of her sisters, sitting just behind you. She is very pretty too, and probably very agreeable. Do let me introduce you!"

Turning round, Mr Darcy looked for a moment at Elizabeth. Then be looked away and said coldly. She is quite pretty; but not enough to tempt me. And I am not interested in looking after young ladies who have been left by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles. You are wasting your time with me.

Mr Bingley took his advice. Mr Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained where she was, with no friendly feelings towards him. She told the story, however, amongst her friends, for she had a lively sense of humour and enjoyed anything ridiculous.

The evening passed very pleasantly for the whole family. Mrs Bennet had seen that her eldest daughter was much admired by the people from Netherfield. Mr Bingley had danced with Jane twice, and his sisters had been friendly to her. Jane was as pleased as her mother, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth shared Jane's pleasure. Kitty and Lydia had never been without partners, which was all they wanted at a ball. Mary had heard herself described as the cleverest girl in the neighbourhood. They returned happily, therefore, to Longbourn, the village where they lived. Mr Bennet, who had refused to go to the ball, was reading

Oh, Mr Bennet, said his wife as she entered the room, we have had a delightful evening, an excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired! Everyone said how well she looked. Mr Bingley thought she was quite beautiful and he danced with her twice! Think of that, my dear! He actually danced with her twice! She was the only girl in the room that he asked twice! First of all he asked Miss Lucas. I was so angry to see him ask her. But he didn't admire her at all. no one could, you know, He noticed Jane during the dance and asked to be introduced to her. Then he asked for the next dance, then the third he danced with Miss King and the fourth with Maria Lucas and fifth with Jane again and the sixth with Elizabeth and the seventh... If he had any pity for me; interrupted her husband, he would not

have danced so much, For God's sake, say no more about his partners!

I wish he had injured his leg in the first dance!

Oh, my dear, continued Mrs Bennet. I am delighted with him. He is

extremely handsome! And his sisters are very fashionable women.I never saw anything more expensive than their dresses. I am sure that the lace on Mrs Hurst's dress...'

She was interrupted again. Mr Bennet refused to hear anything about the dresses. She therefore described instead, with much anger, the rudeness of Mr Darcy.

'But Elizabeth does not lose much if she does not suit him,' she added. He is a most disagreeable, unpleasant man and not worth pleasing. He was so conceited that no one could bear him. He walked around the room thinking himself so great! So our Elizabeth was not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to give him your opinion. I hate the man!'

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